Reasons
by ShelPenguin
Summary: A one shot about Paul Lahote and some troubles he has in his life that I imagine cause him to be who he is. I haven't written Paul before and I don't write much Twilight, but I've recently got interested in writing it again! I hope you enjoy and please leave me a comment and let me know what you think about the piece and my characterization for Paul and the pack!


**Reasons**

_Paul's POV_

I sighed as I walked up the side of the road in La Push. The small reservation in Washington was having a rare, ninety degree day and my already hot body was sweating buckets. I had had plans on seeing Rachel today with lunch, I was going to introduce her to my little sister, Ruby. Rachel knew that I had a little sister after she confronted me about something Jake had told her; I never went to the first two periods of school and I always showed up very late for the last. It's true, so even if I could lie to my imprint it would have been pointless. A lot of people didn't know about me, they just knew that I was a tempermental person that missed a lot of school.

My parent's divorced when I was eight, Ruby was two. My mom stayed put in Idaho and my dad took the two of us back here, where he is origionally from. Everything was great for the first few years - just my dad, my sister and me - my mom hasn't talked to us since we left. People knew that I lived with just my dad, but a lot of people didn't know that Ruby was my sister. We were so different, even I questioned our relation at times. I had ADHD, a temper, I faught a lot and wasn't doing so great in school; Ruby was calm, sweet, the 'conselor' in tough situations and she has been a straight A student since she started.

I had come out and told Rachel why I had always missed school - albiet not so nicely, I was mad Jake was still telling her things to try to keep her away from me. I imprinted, and he knew what that meant. I would be anything and do anything for her, and I needed to be in her life. I never made it to first and second period because I had work - I cleaned a small cafe in Forks and then went over and started breakfast at the diner. I always showed up late to seventh period because I had to leave and get my sister home safely. Immediately Rachel had softened and bad mouthed Jacob, becoming the loving women that I loved. She asked if she could meet Ruby, and so we agreed that we could all have lunch together on Saturday - today. When I woke up today, though, my dad had taken my truck so I had to cancel; we would have lunch tomorrow.

Having a dad like mine was hard. When I was twelve his usual two or three beers turned intp spending his pay check on all the alcohol the stores on the rez had. That's why I work, to pay rent and feed at least Ruby. Now since I wasn't in school I had to work as much as I could. I picked up extra shifts and cleaned for some people in Forks; did their yard work too. Sam was the only guy in the pack that knew of my situation. I was pretty good at keeping my thoughts away from my home life when I had everybody in my head. Sam knew because I had to explain why I couldn't do patrols in the morning, and preferabley not at night either. I always tried to make sure that I was home with Ruby when my dad was, or that she was somewhere else. She had even gone to Emily's a few time when we had emergencies.

My phone began to vibrate in my pocket so I quickly pulled it out to see that it was my home phone.

"Hey Rube, is everything okay?" I asked. My pace sped up to a run but I tried to keep my voice casual for her. She was ten now and even though she was tough and brave, I knew she didn't like being alone with my dad any more than I liked her to be.

"He just got home," she whispered.

"Are you in your room?"

"Yeah.. and the door's locked too." She said. "I think he's in the living room - but he's really mad Paul. He wrecked the truck too."

A disgusted feeling ran through my body as I began to sprint - thankful that being a werewolf had improved my physic. "I'm about two minutes away, just stay in your room."

Ruby said okay and asked me to hurry in a quiet voice before hanging up the phone. Since I didn't have to talk anymore, I began sprinting even faster and was home in one minute. My truck was parked, lopsided, in the dirt drive way and there was steam billowing out from the hood. I groaned, seeing all of the problems that were now affecting the one vehicle we had. I'm sure that it's totaled, but he probably had hit someone and had just sped off. I ran to the front door and flung it open, my strength nearly breaking it. He was in the back of the house, I could hear him. He was banging on Ruby's door and my body instantly began to shake, flooding with heat.

When I entered the hall her turned and looked at me, wobbling slightly in his drunken demeanor.

"Tell her to come... to come out here," he slurred, and I set my jaw. I couldn't afford to lose control. Sure, I would love to hurt him, but I didn't want to scare Ruby.

"Ruby don't come out," I called. My dad dad turned to me and growled. I had to snort; I was growling myself but soon there would be a giant wolf in the small hallways growling. He had no idea what I was, but I don't know how long it's going to stay that way.

He shoved me, and I stumbled slightly out of shock. "Don't touch me," I growled, feeling the heat begin to roll through me in thick waves.

I only faught it for Ruby, but I knew if I did phase it would also be for her too. He smirked slightly as he stumbled towards me so he could shove me again. My nose wrinkled at the smell of his breath - it was awful and full of tequilia, vodka _and_ beer. I didn't say anything this time, I took a couple of steps back, though, because I knew I was going to phase. Me backing away must have triggered something in him. I could hear Ruby crying in her room, but her head was pressed up against the wall straining to hear everything that was going on. I flinched, knowing that if she thought I was hurt she would come out and try to help me.

"Aren't you going to.. do anything? Eh?" he asked, laughing.

In an instant, I wasn't human anymore. I saw it in his eyes before I knew what was happening. I had expected it, obviously, but shock and then terror flashed in his eyes and contorted his features. I was hunched over him now as he sprawled out on the floor; growling and snarling at him, my teeth barred over his face. I didn't want to attack him, but I wanted to scare him shitless. I seemed to be succeeding too, and I seemed to have sobered him up quite a bit to.

_Paul, no! _

Sam was in my head and urging me to stop at once. Jared was there too, and after going through my mind, he was frozen with shock. He had no idea that I even had a sister, and he didn't know that my dad was an alcoholic.

_I'm not going to kill him. _I growled inwardly and outwardly. My dad began shaking slightly with fear and seemed to be about to pass out. I grinned and yipped.

_Phase back now, Paul. Then got to Emily's._

I waited until I had scared my dad enough that he did pass out before phasing back into human form. I could hear Jared snort at me, but he was mentally asking Sam everything about what was going on. The guys complained about me not having to wake up at ridiculous hours for patrol, and the fact that I didn't have to stay out all night to patrol either. He suddenly understood, and he was asking for details not too subtly.

A heart was beating quickly, and I gasped, looking up at Ruby. Her door was open and she was standing int he frame, gaping at me. Her heart was beating fast enough I was worried for her well being. She didn't seem to be breathing; her eyes twice their usual size and her hands gribbing anything they could. Her look, though understandable, hurt. She was looking like she had never seen me before, and I prayed that she still trusted me. I reached over into the laundry basket that was in the hall without taking my eyes off of her until I had to slip a pair of basketball shorts on.

Once I was covered I stood up and she pressed herself harder against the wall.

"Ruby, it's just me," I said, but she pushed harder against the wall. "Its just me, Pauly; I'm not going to hurt you."

"You... you.. dog-" she spluttered.

"I... Rube I turn into a wolf, I know. But I can control it - I'm only one when I want to be. I'm not going to hurt you."

Tears welled up in her eyes and a sob racked through her body as they began to fall. I cringed, ignoring the fact that she was terrified of me and scooped her up into my arms. She was small for a ten year old, but especially small to me. She stood stiff for a moment before her body began to wrap around me as well, her sobs over powering her.

"I would never hurt you, Ruby. He just made me mad - I was only trying to scare him."

"You were... huge.." she sniffed. "You... you scared me."

I closed my eyes and picked her up, her legs wrapping instictively around my waiste. I pulled her closer me, careful not to squish her. That is the last thing I wanted to do - ever.

"I'm sorry sweetie," I whispered, running my hands through her long black hair. "I never wanted to do that, I promise."

After a few minutes she stopped sobbing and I placed her on the foot of her bed and took an athletic bag from her closet and filling it with cloths that she would need. I tied it to her school bag, then threw both of them over my shoulder before scooping her back up. I walked us out of the house where my truck was still smoking; groaning, I turned and continued my journey to Emily's house. The house was about two miles away, and as soon as I made it to the main road, Ruby was passed out on my shoulder - exhausted from crying. I kept a steady pace the whole walk to make sure that I didn't wake her up, and when I entered the lot Emily's house sat on Sam ran out towards me, followed by Jared and Jake.

Sam took my bags and Jared opened the door so that I could walk inside. Jake didn't do anything, but I caught a glance of him once I was in the house and he seemed surprise. Normally, I would have been smirking in the 'Yeah, you're an asshole' way but I couldn't at the moment. I laid Ruby down on Emily's bed and Sam placed her bags by the bed.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked. When I had told him of my situation, he had understood. He grew up without a father and wanted to help me take care of my sister in every way he could.

I went back into living room and collasped on the couch without answering Sam. There was silence, and no one disturbed me with my face buried in my hands until Emily brought me a plate of sandwhiches. She sat on the couch next to me and rubbed my back in a comforting manner. Everything that had happened today was starting to take the normal toll on a person - me. My drunk of a father had wrecked my only means of transportation, and since I know that he was the one that would have caused the damage, it was pointless to try to find the other person involved. Then our nonexistant insurance would have had to pay for whatever had happened to them. He scared my sister enough that she had backed away into her room, and when I arrived home he was trying to get her to come out in his stupor. I cringed as the many possabilities ran through my mind of what he would have wanted to do. He's hit both of us, thankfully it has mostly been me he's hit because I always blocked Ruby. We wouldn't have lived with him if there was somewhere else we could go.

He also knew about my wolf thing. He and Ruby. Ruby I trusted to not tell anyone and to go back to normal with me, but not him. He's never been dependable or trust worthy and I don't expect any less of him now. He's usually drunk, too, so soon the whole reservation will know about what I am. As if he read my mind, Sam spoke up.

"We'll go to your house later and talk with your dad, Paul," he told me from the chair opposite. "He won't tell anybody, don't worry."

"You and Ruby can stay here as long as you want to, too," Emily put in quickly.

"I think her friend Hannah will let her live with them - she spends most of her time at their house anyways," I shrugged.

"Well you will still need a place to stay," Emily challenged.

"You can stay with us," Jake said quietly.

I looked up at him, and so did everybody else. Everybody knew that he didn't like me. I imprinted on his sister and I spend a lot of my time at their house as it is, eating their food and watching their tv.

"What?" I asked, not able to keep the expression off my face that clearly said I didn't believe him.

"Rachel told me why you were always out of school last night and... I'm sorry I keep telling her things in hope she doesn't like you," he said, still unusally quiet for Jacob. "I... Billy and me just got her back and she's actually staying now thanks to you - Rebecca hasn't been home for years and we know she won't be for a long time so we're ust trying to keep Rachel. I'm sorry that... I didn't know that you had a drunk dad or even a little sister."

"It's really nobody's business." I told them, shrugging slightly.

Jared seemed about to burst too, "Man, you can stay at my house anytime too. Even Ruby. My mom loves kids and always complains about not having a daughter - she'd love her."

I looked around at everyone that was surrounding me and was suddenly overwhelmed. I had Sam, who had taken me in and helped me in every way possible with everything in my life. Emily had fed me and my sister and helped Ruby with school. Jared had just found out and was literally telling me to move myself and my sister in to his house with him; undoubtabley okay with his mom and step dad who he told everything to. Jacob.. Jacob had gone from hating me to basically telling me that he would help me in any way too, and that he was sorry for being such a dick these past few weeks. I also told me that he was fine with me and Rachel, which meant a lot to me. He and Billy hadn't ever shown any liking towards me - besides the fact that Rachel wanted to stay in La Push because of me - and now Jacob was saying that he was just being a protective little brother and that he wanted me to date his sister. It was a lot to take in at once.

"See, I told you to just tell them," Emily said to me, smiling her friendly smile. "We're all here for you Paul, you have a big family now."

And even though she's told me this at least a hundred times since I first started phasing, I actually believed it this time. I did have a family, and they were all huge werewolves that would do anything to protect me.

* * *

So this is my first Paul one shot, but recently he has just spiked an interest in me so I hope you enjoy this! I read and imprint story with him once and he had a little sister that he was really close to, so ever since then I've always kind of imagined him with a little sister I guess. I tried not to make it too dramatic, but I think at some point the pack as to realize that there's a reason to how Paul is and I think he deserves to be cared for by everyone. :) Leave a review and let me know what you think!


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